
Qass. 
Book. 



,^S7 



Tf ^ 



A DISCOURSE 




ON THE 






£f3.^ 


ASSASSINATION OF 


f-^«t 


PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 


delivkrp:d in the 




FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 


Lansinffbtzrgla, N. Y., 




OX SABIJATII EVENING, APRIL 16, 1865, 




BY REV. A. M. BEVERIDGE. 




I'UBLISHED BY KKQUEST. 




TROY, X . Y .: 




A. \V. SCRIIIKKR, BOOK AND JOI) PKINTF.R, CAN.SON HLAI'l'., 




1865. 





A DISCOURSE 



ON THK 



ASSASSIN A.TION Or^' 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



Tjansingburgh, N. Y.^ 



ON SABBATH EVENING, APRIL Ki, 1865, 



BY EEV. A. M. BEVERIDGE 



rUBLISUED BY UKQUEST. 



TROY, N . Y . : 

A. W. SCUIBNER, BOOK AND JOB PRINTKIi, CANNON PLACE. 

18(55. 



SEEMON. 



Kaow ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in 
Israel. — 2d Samuel, hi : 38. 

Abraham Lincoln, our honored and beloved 
Chief Magistrate, is dead ! He fell, murdered 
by the hand of a dark-minded malignant assassin, 
in one of the places of public concourse, in the 
city of Washington, the Capital of the Nation. 

A great man — and good, has thus fallen in 
our American Israel — a man, who, notwithstand- 
ing all the disadvantages of his youth and earlier 
manhood, and all the infirmities and faults of 
his nature, inseparable from our humanity, will 
stand hereafter, side by side with the immortal 
Washington — his compeer in sagacity, in wisdom, 
in integrity, honesty, firmness, kindness of heart, 
and in all those virtues and elements of manhood 
which are essential to constitute true greatness, 
or true nobility of character ; and his name will 
live, so long as that of Washington himself shall 
live — the one, acknowledged and revered as the 



Father of his country, and the other, as the in- 
strument in Grod's hand, of her deUverance and 
preservation. 

That so wise, and so good a man was, in the 
Providence of The Most High, summoned to the 
helm of the ship of state, in the season of her 
extremest peril — when lier very life, and all the 
inestimable blessings, witli which she was freight- 
ed, were in jeopardy, demands of us the gratitude 
of our hearts and the praise of our lips, even in 
tills dark hour of our sorrow ; and that this noble 
helmsman, to whom was committed such vast 
treasures — even a nation's weal — rhas so skillfully 
piloted the preciously laden bark 'through so 
many storms, and tempests, and breakers, has 
not only excited the admiration and the applause 
of the ton thousand interested and anxious wit- 
nesses of his wisdom and his power to master 
difliculties, but it lias a^-ain and a":ain, and times 
without number, evoked from the loyal heart of 
tlie nation this fervent prayer : God bless Abraham 
Lincoln ! (rod bless Abraham. Lincoln ! 

But th(; faithful lielmsmaii — the man wliom the 
pcoph' delinhtc'd to lioiior, and in whose hand and 
lit'ad and licnit tlicy so coiiHdently trusted, has 
])vv\\ stricken down at liis ])ost — sliii-ken down 
\\\u\\ tlic [oiii'-tossi'd vessel, after out-ridini>' so 
iiiaiiN' storms and es(';ii)in'>- uiininiilxTed dan<>'ers. 



seemed to be just entering tlie long- sought haven 
of peace ; and now. the nation, whose lips were 
opening to give utterance to the merited plaudit, 
" Well done good and faithful servant," — and 
whose hands were prepared to crown him with 
garlands of honor, is all so suddenly bathed in 
tears of sorrow, and draped in the habiliments 
of woe. 

Never since the first fatal gun was fired, on 
that sweet April morning, four years ago, upon 
Fort Sumter, and whose reverberations peeled 
with such wild dismay, through the length and 
breadth of the land, has this nation's heart been 
so profoundly moved, and so overwhelmed with 
unaffected sorrow, as when with yesterday's sun, 
there came speeding in quick succession over the 
electric "wires the sad announcements — '' The 
President of tlie United States has been assas- 
sinated " — " The President is d3^ing " — " The 
President is dead ! " 

The news of this terrible catastrophe fell like 
a stunning blow upon the head of the people — 
producing everywhere the profoundest indigna- 
tion and horror — paralyzing for the time, the 
very senses, and exciting emotion too deep for 
utterance ; or which, if it found utterance at all, 
only in sad emphatic monosyllables— a silent 
grasp of the hand, or in unbidden and resistless 
tears. 



6 

Nor is it a wonder that there was experienced 
such a paralysis of feeling and such unutterable 
consternation and woe. The shock was too great 
and too sudden to be otherwise. The nation's 
heart was all alive and aglow with the joy of 
victory. Her authority had been nobly vindi- 
cated. The majesty of justice and of law had 
triumphed over treason and lawlessness. The 
proud army and the last hope of the rebellion, 
had been driven in dismay from behind lier 
strong fortifications — the Capital of the bastard 
and iniquitous Confederacy been evacuated — her 
Chief Ruler and masterspirit had fled as a fright- 
ened fugitive from the scourge of justice — the 
vaunted leader of the rebel hosts with his chivalric 
followers and all their parapliernalia of war, been 
captured or slain ; — and as the result of such 
unbounded success, the bright dawn of an early 
and blessed peace was hailed by a happy and 
overjoyed people; and they were ready, in the 
abundance of their good will, to grant it. upon 
the easiest of terms. To officers and to soldiers 
of the overpowered foe — blood-red as were their 
hands Avitli foulest murder, — the most humane and 
lenient terms of surrender were given ; and the 
loving arms of tlui nation, as if wholl}^ forgetful 
of all tlie wrong that liad been done her and lier 
chiklren, were thrown wide open, to take back 



to her bosom and to her heart, her ahenated 
and erring brethren ; and she was ready to re- 
invest them with all the privileges, immunities, 
and honors of American Citizenship, aye, and 
seemingly ready, in the overflowing kindness of 
her heart, to kill for them the fatted calf, and to 
rejoice with special joy, that the wanderers had re- 
turned, and the lost were found ; and now, just 
in the midst of all this good feeling and these 
joyous prospects, when the pulse of the nation's 
hope is beating so high, and all the sad calamities 
of four long years of the most sanguinary war 
are about to culminate in the blessing of peace 
and the reciprocal feeling and advantages of a 
united brotherhood ; we are startled and appalled 
by the unexpected intelligence, that this monster 
of rebellion, fairly and justly beaten on his own 
chosen field of contest, but spared from utter 
destruction, in order that it might finally be 
subdued by the moral force of christian kindness, 
has, in its last death agony, and true to its 
fiendish nature still, turned and struck with a 
murderous hand at the very heart of the nation 
in the person of its chief and most honored ruler. 
It is a fitting climax to the barbarities and 
infernal malignity of a slaveholder's rebellion ! 
Dirk as the deed is, it ought not to have been 
unlookod for; and it was not by many who 



knew better the animus of the foe. It is the 
legitimate outgrowth of tlie system of human 
oppression, and of a war wliich was begun, and 
has been carried on for the accursed purpose of 
enslaving mankind. It may be a deed, unap- 
proved by all the South, and even by all that 
have been engaged in this unholy rebellion. For 
humanity's sake, I trust that it is — but to a 
people so corrupt and hardened and lost to all 
the nobler principles of humanity, that they could 
sacrifice the peace and prosperity of the nation 
which had been their protection, and professedly 
their pride — that could wade through rivers of 
blood for the inglorious privilege of extending 
the area of human bondage, and to live and 
fatten upon the unrequited toil of poor, degraded, 
brutalized bondmen and bond women ; aye, and 
that could so defy and trample upon all the 
laws of civilized warfare and outrage humanity 
itself, as to deliberately and systematically starve 
and murder, inch by inch, sixty thousand free- 
men, for the sake of accomplishing their hellish 
design ; to such a people, this last masterly stroke 
of iiii(piity, this dastardly blow, at the foremost 
champion of human rights and liberty, will not 
be an ungrateful, nor an unapplauded deed. 

It will seuil, doubtless, a thrill of joy through 
all the dark realms of disloyalty, north as well 



as south ; aye, and thnjuiih all the realms of 
darkness beneath, ^Yhere this foul jdot and the 
foul rebellion itself orio-inated ; even as it has 
already sent a thrill of angniish to every loyal 
heart throughout the land; and as it will yet 
send to every liberty-loving heart throughout 
the civilized world. It will be chuckled over 
in secret; it will be gleefully repeated at the 
"fireside and in the haunts of the enemy ; be 
dignified, by printer's ink. into an act of noble 
daring, or the sublimity of moral heroism, and 
applauded by thousands upon thousands, as the 
very acme of poetic justice. Poets themselves 
will celebrate it in song — orators will find par- 
allels upon the page of history, or even liken 
the perpetrator of the horrid crime, who for the 
good of his imperilled country, stabbed the 
mighty C?esar for his ambition, upon the steps 
of the Senate-house of Rome ; and purblind and 
corrupt priests, calling themselves the ministers 
of our holy Religion, will point to it as a note- 
worthy example of the retributive justice, or 
avenging wrath of God ; and priest and people, 
in the exuberance of their delight, will to<>'ether 
clap their hands and cry, Amen ! or even joining* 
in the mock heroism of the red-handed murderer, 
as he brandishes his glittering steel in the face 
of that horror-stricken audience where the dam- 

9 



ning- deed was done, will shout — ''Sic sempei- 
tyrannis'' — So let it ever he to tyranta. 

But no words of apologj^ or, of extenuation — 

no liig-li- wrought, illusive imagery, or illustrious 

example gathered from classic lore — no labored 

effort of poet, author, orator or priest, can avail 

to change the nature of the crime; and nothing 

which they can say or do, will serve to obliterate, 

or to cover up the stain of its damnable guilt. 

" The offence is rank — it smells to heaven — it 

hath worse than the primal eldest curse upon 

it — and there is not rain enouo-h in von sweet 

heavens to wash it wdiite as snow." It is done. 

The pen of history will record it — record it in 

all its fearful l)lackness — and record it to the 

eternal dislionor and shame, not only of the vile 

perpetrator of the bloodv deed, but of all who 

have sunk so far into the depths of human 

depravity, and are so wanting, in the nobler 

instincts an<l feelings of our humanity, as to 

be capable of abetting, and sympathizing with 

such monster of ini(|uity. 

I know not. whether such enemies, blinded, 
prejudiced, maddened as tliey are, even to despe- 
ration, will ever b;- abh' to discoxcr the enormity 
ol" liiis crime whicli th('\- haxc thus a(l(KMl to the 
l(»n^-. (l;u'I< calalogn** oi tlicir other sins. Passion 
which has x) jjerx erted nnd (lesti(i\i'd their moral 



11 

vision, may still continue to pervert, and liide it 
from their eyes. Bat if I mistake not, the time 
is coming, when it will repent them that they have 
done this deed — when thev will wish, oh ! how 
much — that it were undone — because of its return 
to curse the doers — converting their fiendish 
laughter and joy, into bitter lamentations and 
wailings of woe. I could wish, for their sakes, 
as well as ours, that it had never been done ; for 
have they not to fear — will they not find when 
too late to repent, that the little finger of the mur- 
dered one's successor will be thicker than the loins 
of " Father Abraham ; " and that whereas, this 
gentle-hearted father of his people, so lenient and 
so kind, that he could hardly chastise his rebel- 
lious children with whips ; his official substitute, 
schooled to severity in the fires which their own 
madness had kindled and fostered ; and sustained 
as he will be by the temper of an outraged and 
indignant people, shall hereafter chastise them 
icith scorpions t But it is too late now for selfish- 
ness to put on the sackcloth of repentance. The 
camel's back is broken. The foul deed which 
calls for severity, if not vengeance, has been com- 
mitted, and cannot, if it would, be recalled — nor 
can the consequences be averted. As they have 
sown to the Avind, so must they reap the whirl- 
wind. 



And uo more can it be recalled by us, however 
much we may regret it, or sorrow over it. The 
hand that did the deed, did it as effectuall}^ for us 
as for them. And strano-e as, at first tliouo-ht, it 
may seem, it was done under the Providence of 
that God. who worketli all thing-s according- to the 
counsel of his own will — ind to whom the faith of 
this g-reat nation has been lookino^ in her dano-er- 
ous extremity for guidance — and in whom she has 
trusted, and not in vain, for help. It is an unex- 
pected, startling, mysterious and most trying Pro- 
vidence. It is so mysterious and so sudden — even 
.as the stroke of the thunderbolt — and withal so 
contravenes all our plans, desires and hopes, that 
it is hard to gracefidly submit, or to sa}^ at this 
hour, from the deptlis of the lieart, " Thy will, 
God, be done." But still we nuist submit — ninst 
and oughf. God's will be done ; and what are we 
that we should rebel a^-ainst his o^overnment ? 
Let us, therefore, instead of fighting against God, 
or of indulging a spirit of complaint, or sinking 
down into despair, aim to possess and to cherish 
that frame of mind which will enable us, not onlv 
to bow with the profoundest reverence l)efore 
Ilin), but to be resigned to this dark disj)ensation 
of His ever wise and ever liolv ProvidcMu-c 

And that we may be thus reconciled to that 
iiupreme will, which orders and disposes all events 



13 

of this world, both great and small ; let us remem- 
ber that althoiif^h a g-reat and good man has fallen 
in our Israel, he fell not until he had done a grexit 
work — a work which has made ghid the hearts of 
millions of poor bondmen in our own and other 
lands ; and the hearts of all who love righteous- 
ness, justice, liberty and truth, throughout the 
earth. His life therefore has not been in vain. 
It indeed has scarcely fallen to the lot of one poor 
mortal to devise and to execute so much for hu- 
manity and for God. His name stands enrolled 
to-day, among the foremost of earth's benefactors. 
Had there been more work for him to do — work 
which he would have done better than any one 
else, lie had doubtless been left to complete it. 
Bat there was not. His mission — thouo-h to us 
it may seem prematurely ended — was fulfilled ; 
and God. who never errs, as to time, or place, or 
event, called his chosen laborer home ; and he has 
passed, as we believe to his reward on high — and 
"his works do follow him." Let us therefore 
devoutly thank God, the great and good Giver; 
thank him for the work done, and that it has been 
so weM done. 

But in this dark hour of our national calamity, 
let us not only seek to be thankful for the many 
favors of the past, and submission for the present 
and for the future, but let us aim to benefit bv the 



14 

lessons which this afflictive Providence, when pro- 
perly interpreted, inculcates. Not to be made 
wiser, and better, by such Providences, as that 
over wliich we mourn to-day, is to despise the 
chastening of the Lord and to provoke anew his 
wrath. 

And P^irst, let us learn, as individuals, and as a 
people, to be humble, and to know that the Lord is 
God; and that we are not, therefore, to boast of 
our own wisdom and strength — vind not to put 
confidence in princes, or in an arm of flesli, but in 
the arm of tlu living Grjd; for he only is great, 
and wise, and Almighty. "Cease ye from man 
whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he 
to be accounted of ?" " Trust ye in the Lord 
forever ; for in tlie Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
strength." " Trust in the Lord, and do good, so 
shalt thou dwell in the land." Is it not tlins that 
the voice of the Lord is heard speaking to us, 
and to this whole people, as they sit mourning, 
to-day, over the loss of the great and good man 
who lias I'MHen in our Isrcal i 

l)iit does not this Providence also teach us, as a 
people, to be just as well as merciful ! Have we 
not. or liad not, tlic nation forgotten, or was she 
not in dani>(jr i)f foi-iicttinii', that thcMV is some 
thing due to the majesty of law — to God's unre- 
pealed statutes and tlie great law of public rights 



15 

as well as to the SAveet law of kindness and of 
love. It is true, that the law of Christian benev- 
olence directs and requires us to " love our 
enemies, to bless them that curse us, to do o-ood 
to them that hate us, and to pray for them that 
despitefully use us and persecute us ;" — and we 
would not detract one jot, or tittle, from that law of 
mercy ; but there is given to it a jahe interpreta- 
tion, and an application essentially wrong, and 
decidedly disastrous in its tendencies, and effects 
upon public morals, and the well being of the 
State, if it be supposed to inculcate, or to encour- 
age that mawkish sensibility, or that attenuated, 
weak and shadowy sentimentalism which is 
shocked at the idea of punishment ; or if it be 
supposed that the laws of Christian justice can be 
sacrificed to that sickly humanitarianism which is 
so lenient in its dealing with public offenders, 
that it would suffer every graceless villain, or 
every violator of the great law of right, whatever 
the turpitude of his crime, to escape with impu- 
nity. And yet, what was the popular cry but 
yesterday, or before the news of this sorrowful 
event, so distinctly revealing the true animus of 
the rebellion, broke upon the ears and struck 
upon the heart of this great people X Everywhere 
almost. North and South, East and West, from the 
pulpit and from the press, and in the street, there 



16 

were heard spoken in words and tones, softer than 
those of Christian charity itself, sentiments hke 
this: " Let these red-handed traitors g-o — all go — 
' scot free.' " They would, it is true, if they could, 
have pulled down this grand fabric of free insti- 
tutions, and erected upon its ruins another edifice 
whose chief corner stone was human slavery ; 
but what of that \ They have in their mad effort 
to rule and to destroy, caused the death of five 
hundred thousand of their fellow countrymen, the 
life of each one of which was as dear and as 
valuable as their own ; but what of that ? Tliey 
have, with a demon-like cruelty, literally starved 
out of life sixty thousand unfortunate prisoners of 
war, guilty of no greater otfence than that of 
taking up arms in the name of liberty, and to de- 
fend the rich and free inheritance bequeathed to 
them as the dving legacy of their fathers; but 
what of that \ Tliey have sold into slavery, or 
massacred, in cold blood, soldiers whose misfortune 
it is to have a darker skin tlian their own : con- 
scripted and imprisoned law-abiding Unionists, 
driven defenceless women and cliildren as fugitives 
froui their homes, or burned their roof-tree over 
them ; — and withal brought desolation and woe to 
almost every li(^artlistone throughout tlie broad 
land; l)ut what <»f all this? Are they not our 
countryuicu — uiir hrclhren — and sliall we not 



17 

treat tliem as bvetliren ; vea, all of tliein, from the 
liig-hest to the lowest, the chief plotters, abettors 
and supporters of this rebellion, as well as their 
deluded and miso-uided followers I Let us be 
generous, let us show to them, and show to the 
world what a great Christian nation has the 
mag-nanimity to do ; and let us take them back 
unshriven to our bosom, enfold them again within 
our loving- arms, without any satisfaction for the 
wrong and outi'age done, or anv sign of rep:'nt- 
ance, save what has been extorted by the stern 
necessity of an overpowering military force ; and 
let us bestow upon them every privilege forfeited; 
aye, make them feel, not only that we welcome 
them back to the great national broth'jrhood, but, 
by the very plenitude of our kindness, that we 
now think them even more worthy of our friend- 
ship and honor, than when as yet their hands 
were not sacriligiously put forth to [)ull d nvn tlu? 
temple of liberty, and they were not dripping 
with the blood of liberty's martyred heroes. 

Such, in etfect, was the by far too popular, 
cry — such the direction which the nation, led by 
the o^overnment itself, was driftino- — io-norins" the 
first great principles of human and Divine justice 
— and essentially abandoning the eternal distinc- 
tions between rio'ht and wrona", and all, too, in 
the name of our holv ( liristianity. 



18 

But out upon such Christianity as this ! It is 
not worthy of the name. It is dishonored by an 
association with such reckless principles. It is 
not found in the Book of God, from Genesis to 
the Revelation. It is a maudlin sentimentalisra, 
that assumes to be wiser and better, and more 
benevolent than God himself, ^Yllo, in his un- 
swerving rectitude and attachment to the princi- 
ples of justice, has affixed penalty to law, and has 
ordained that the way of the transgressor should 
be hard, and has pronounced an anathema upon 
them that do the work of the Lord deceitfully. 
No ; it is not Christianity ; it is infidelity ; infidel- 
ity to principle; infidelity to justice and righteous- 
ness and truth ; and no nation can be strong, and 
no nation can stand, which abandons these found- 
ation principles ; or that fails, through a false 
sensibility, or an indifference to right, to give 
vigor and policy to just and equitable law. The 
majesty of law must be vindicated or crime will 
run rani[)ant. Tlie magistrate, to whom is com- 
mitted the sword, must use the sword to execute 
wrath upon evil doers, as well as for the pro- 
tection of tliem that do well; or it will l)e wrested 
from liis grasp and connnittcd to more faithful 
hands, or tlie govcrnnient, which lie has been set 
to mainlaiii, will go (1(»\\ n nndcr licr own weight 
of acccnnmlatcd evils. 



19 

And may it not be — I know that, at best, we 
are but poor interpreters of God's designs, and are 
often led in our ignorance and by our blind im- 
pulses to hastily formed concluvsions, — but may it 
not be, and is it not probable, that one end of this 
mournful Providential dispensation, is, to arrest 
the nation which has been silently detaching her- 
self from her moorings, from thus drifting off into 
this dark sea of infidelity, where she is in danger 
of being engulphed ; and to lash her again to the 
throne of God — that throne whose foundation and 
whose pillars are justice and judgment t or may it 
not be, to write anew, and as with a pen of iron, 
the love of justice and a due reverence for law 
upon the nation's heart, and thus to hold her fast 
to her great mission, and to establish her upon a 
firmer and an immovable foundation ? Verily, I 
believe it to be so ; for I am assured from all that 
I can learn of the character of God from the ex- 
pression of his will in man's moral constitution, 
from his Providence and from his word, that He is 
the God oj right ; and that such is the holiness of 
his nature — such liis love for the right, that he 
never has, and never will grant mercy to the 
offender, at the expense of the claims of justice; 
and furthermore, that he requires individuals, and 
requires nations, to do justly, as well as to practice 
mercy. lie himself governs the world, and gov- 
erns the universe by law ; and in ordaining liuman 



20 

government — the representative of his authority 
upon earth — has pUxoed all men under law — not 
to violate at will, or to violate it with impunity, 
but to obey; or if not, to suffer the just penalty 
of disobedience. 

There is a story found upon the page of Old 
Testament history, to which the nation might, per- 
haps, well take heed. It is in effect this : The peo- 
ple of Amalek, on account of her cruel treatment 
of the Israelites, and for other crimes, had been 
doomed by an oath of God to utter destruction. 
Saul, the first king of Israel, was commissioned by 
the Lord to perform this work of extermination. 
Mustering an army of two hundred thousand men, 
he invaded, with this strou": force, the kin<>-doui of 
Amalek ; but instead of executino- to the full the 
command of the Lord, he, for some reason, spared 
Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive, as also the 
best of the cattle. P)Ut Agag did not long enjoy 
this reprieve, nor did Saul prolit by his disobe- 
dience ; for no sooner did the pro[)liet Samuel, a 
more faithful ser\ant of the JA)rd, learn the state of 
affairs, than he rebuked the insubordinate spirit of 
iiis royal master, and foretohl the loss of his king- 
dom ill coiistMiiu'iice ; and lie siiiiiiiioiumI llic guilty 
Agag into his prcsi'iicc, and hewed him in pieces 
b('f»re the I. oivf saving : "as t]i\' swonl liatli ni;ide 
woineii (InhHess, so shall tliy mother be childless 
ainoii^' women."' II;is the so-(talled Southern Con- 



21 

federacy — the modern Amalek — the troubler of 
our Israel, and the murderer of our chikiren, no 
Agags spared alive, that ought to be hewn in 
pieces before the Lord I or that should be hung 
as high as Haman, a spectacle to the world of the 
avenging w^rath of the Almighty against this crime 
of high-handed, bloody treason 1 Bat would the 
o-overnment have done it ? And had it, would all 

o 

the people have said Amen ? 

Abraham Lincoln — we speak his name with the 

profoundest reverence — was the exponent of this 

Sfovernment and of its laws. Because of the man- 

ner of its administration, his enemies accused him 

of tyranny and cursed him as a tyrant ; likening 

him in their hate, to Nero and to Borgia. But 

never were words more falsely used. Abraham 

Lincoln had not the first element of a tyrant in 

the composition of his character. Never was heart 

so filled to overflowing with the milk of human 

kindness ; never was the ruler of any people more 

paternal in his feelings. All his speeches, all his 

manifestos, all his acts, prove that his heart was 

laro-e enough to embrace his whole country, his 

enemies as well as his friends. The one fault of 

his character — if I may be allowed to speak it — 

the flaw in the diamond, was his almost excessive 

leniency. His heart was too soft — it partook not 

sufficiently of that sterner stuff, or wanted those 

Cromwellian, or I may say, those Jacksonian vir- 



22 

tues, which shrink not from inflicting punishment^ 
when and where, and according as it is deserved. 
Even the blood}'- Agags were spared, and the con- 
spiring Hamans went unhung ; and hence, as it 
would seem, some other minister of the Lord's 
vengeance must take his place and complete the 
work which justice demands to be done, and which 
his nature unfitted him to perform. 

But he that has been faitliful in so many tilings, 
is not permitted to pass away until crowned with 
still higher honors. Martyrdom in behalf of that 
sacred cause of human freedom to which he had 
devoted tlie strenof-tli of his life, and which he liad 
so honestly and lionorably served, still awaits him. 
But liis work is done — all done and well done — 
and the time of his departure is at hand ; and by 
the will of God, b}^ the hand of that miscreant 
assassin, John Wilkes Booth, he is crowned with 
the martyr's crown — his name henceforth and for- 
ever sacred to human liberty. All honor be to 
that noble name ! It needs no monument of 
marble, or of brass to perpetuate it. History will 
not permit it to perish. An emancipated race — 
a greatful nation - earth's millions struggling for 
freedom, will enilniliii him in their memory, and 
generations yet unborn, shall arise to call him 
blessed. 

The work, my friends, which he so nobly 
began, will go on. Individuals may die, l)ut the 



23 

nation lives. It is God's work, and it will be ad- 
vanced, rather than hindered by the event over 
which we mourn. The blood of our martyred 
chief is not shed in vain. It was a link in the 
chain of Divine Providence that could not be left 
out. The purpose for which it was ordained shall 
be fulfilled. It will cement the loyal hearts of the 
nation in closer unity — endear to ns still more our 
beloved country — and watering* the tree of liberty 
planted upon these western shores by the hands 
of the fathers, will impart to it a more vigorous 
growth, causing it to strike deeper and firmer its 
roots in the eternal principles of justice and truth. 
Let us, therefore, not despair of the nation ; 
though this honored instrument of its preservation 
is removed. God permitted him, as he did his 
servant Moses of old, to lead her through the Red 
sea of her difficulties, and on through the wilder- 
ness to the borders of the good land, if not to 
enter it. He saw it from Mt. Xebo when he 
ascended. xVnd the Lord, who has led thus far in 
safety, will not now forsake us in the hour of our 
triumph, if we, as a people, are faithful to the 
riolit. xVnother Joshua wall the Lord our God 
raise np to go before us, and to lead us on to that 
goodly inheritance for which we have so long- 
struggled, and prayed and hoped ; and the nation 
shall have rest. 



